1.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was established as a sovereign state on 1 January 1801 by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. The growing desire for an Irish Republic led to the Irish War of Independence, Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom, and the state was consequently renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Britain financed the European coalition that defeated France in 1815 in the Napoleonic Wars, the British Empire thereby became the foremost world power for the next century. The Crimean War with Russia and the Boer wars were relatively small operations in a largely peaceful century, rapid industrialisation that began in the decades prior to the states formation continued up until the mid-19th century. A devastating famine, exacerbated by government inaction in the century, led to demographic collapse in much of Ireland. It was an era of economic modernization and growth of industry, trade and finance. Outward migration was heavy to the colonies and to the United States. Britain also built up a large British Empire in Africa and Asia, India, by far the most important possession, saw a short-lived revolt in 1857. In foreign policy Britain favoured free trade, which enabled its financiers and merchants to operate successfully in many otherwise independent countries, as in South America. Britain formed no permanent military alliances until the early 20th century, when it began to cooperate with Japan, France and Russia, and moved closer to the United States. A brief period of limited independence for Ireland came to an end following the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the British governments fear of an independent Ireland siding against them with the French resulted in the decision to unite the two countries. This was brought about by legislation in the parliaments of both kingdoms and came into effect on 1 January 1801, however, King George III was bitterly opposed to any such Emancipation and succeeded in defeating his governments attempts to introduce it. When the Treaty of Amiens ended the war, Britain agreed to return most of the territories it had seized, in May 1803, war was declared again. In 1806, Napoleon issued the series of Berlin Decrees, which brought into effect the Continental System and this policy aimed to eliminate the threat from the British by closing French-controlled territory to foreign trade. Frances population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of the British Isles, Napoleon expected that cutting Britain off from the European mainland would end its economic hegemony. The Spanish uprising in 1808 at last permitted Britain to gain a foothold on the Continent, after Napoleons surrender and exile to the island of Elba, peace appeared to have returned. The Allies united and the armies of Wellington and Blucher defeated Napoleon once, simultaneous with the Napoleonic Wars, trade disputes, arming hostile Indians and British impressment of American sailors led to the War of 1812 with the United States. The war was little noticed in Britain, which could devote few resources to the conflict until the fall of Napoleon in 1814, American frigates inflicted a series of defeats on the Royal Navy, which was short on manpower due to the conflict in Europe

2.
Monarchy of the United Kingdom
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The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom, its dependencies and its overseas territories. The monarchs title is King or Queen, the current monarch and head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, ascended the throne on the death of her father, King George VI, on 6 February 1952. The monarch and his or her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial, diplomatic, as the monarchy is constitutional, the monarch is limited to non-partisan functions such as bestowing honours and appointing the Prime Minister. The monarch is, by tradition, commander-in-chief of the British Armed Forces, from 1603, when the Scottish monarch King James VI inherited the English throne as James I, both the English and Scottish kingdoms were ruled by a single sovereign. From 1649 to 1660, the tradition of monarchy was broken by the republican Commonwealth of England, the Act of Settlement 1701 excluded Roman Catholics, or those who married Catholics, from succession to the English throne. In 1707, the kingdoms of England and Scotland were merged to create the Kingdom of Great Britain, and in 1801, the British monarch became nominal head of the vast British Empire, which covered a quarter of the worlds surface at its greatest extent in 1921. After the Second World War, the vast majority of British colonies and territories became independent, George VI and his successor, Elizabeth II, adopted the title Head of the Commonwealth as a symbol of the free association of its independent member states. The United Kingdom and fifteen other Commonwealth monarchies that share the person as their monarch are called Commonwealth realms. In the uncodified Constitution of the United Kingdom, the Monarch is the Head of State, oaths of allegiance are made to the Queen and her lawful successors. God Save the Queen is the British national anthem, and the monarch appears on postage stamps, coins, the Monarch takes little direct part in Government. Executive power is exercised by Her Majestys Government, which comprises Ministers, primarily the Prime Minister and the Cabinet and they have the direction of the Armed Forces of the Crown, the Civil Service and other Crown Servants such as the Diplomatic and Secret Services. Judicial power is vested in the Judiciary, who by constitution, the Church of England, of which the Monarch is the head, has its own legislative, judicial and executive structures. Powers independent of government are legally granted to public bodies by statute or Statutory Instrument such as an Order in Council. The Sovereigns role as a monarch is largely limited to non-partisan functions. This role has been recognised since the 19th century, the constitutional writer Walter Bagehot identified the monarchy in 1867 as the dignified part rather than the efficient part of government. Whenever necessary, the Monarch is responsible for appointing a new Prime Minister, the Prime Minister takes office by attending the Monarch in private audience, and after kissing hands that appointment is immediately effective without any other formality or instrument. Since 1945, there have only been two hung parliaments, the first followed the February 1974 general election when Harold Wilson was appointed Prime Minister after Edward Heath resigned following his failure to form a coalition. Although Wilsons Labour Party did not have a majority, they were the largest party, the second followed the May 2010 general election, in which the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats agreed to form the first coalition government since World War II

3.
George IV of the United Kingdom
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George IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover following the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten years later. From 1811 until his accession, he served as Prince Regent during his fathers mental illness. George IV led an extravagant lifestyle that contributed to the fashions of the Regency era and he was a patron of new forms of leisure, style and taste. He commissioned John Nash to build the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and remodel Buckingham Palace and he even forbade Caroline to attend his coronation and asked the government to introduce the unpopular Pains and Penalties Bill in a desperate, unsuccessful attempt to divorce her. For most of Georges regency and reign, Lord Liverpool controlled the government as Prime Minister and his ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible. At all times he was much under the influence of favourites, taxpayers were angry at his wasteful spending at a time when Britons were fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. He did not provide leadership in time of crisis, nor act as a role model for his people. Liverpools government presided over Britains ultimate victory, negotiated the peace settlement, after Liverpools retirement, George was forced to accept Catholic emancipation despite opposing it. His only child, Princess Charlotte, died before him in 1817 and so he was succeeded by his younger brother, George was born at St Jamess Palace, London, on 12 August 1762, the first child of King George III of the United Kingdom and Queen Charlotte. As the eldest son of a British sovereign, he automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay at birth, he was created Prince of Wales, on 18 September of the same year, he was baptised by Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury. His godparents were the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the Duke of Cumberland, George was a talented student, and quickly learned to speak French, German and Italian, in addition to his native English. He was a witty conversationalist, drunk or sober, and showed good, the Prince of Wales turned 21 in 1783, and obtained a grant of £60,000 from Parliament and an annual income of £50,000 from his father. It was far too little for his needs – the stables alone cost £31,000 a year and he then established his residence in Carlton House, where he lived a profligate life. Animosity developed between the prince and his father, who desired more frugal behaviour on the part of the heir apparent, the King, a political conservative, was also alienated by the princes adherence to Charles James Fox and other radically inclined politicians. Soon after he reached the age of 21, the prince became infatuated with Maria Fitzherbert and she was a commoner, six years his elder, twice widowed, and a Roman Catholic. Despite her complete unsuitability, the prince was determined to marry her, nevertheless, the couple went through a marriage ceremony on 15 December 1785 at her house in Park Street, Mayfair. Legally the union was void, as the Kings consent was not granted, however, Fitzherbert believed that she was the princes canonical and true wife, holding the law of the Church to be superior to the law of the State. For political reasons, the union remained secret and Fitzherbert promised not to reveal it, the prince was plunged into debt by his exorbitant lifestyle

4.
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
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The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of Her Majestys Government in the United Kingdom. The prime minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Monarch, to Parliament, to their political party, the office is one of the Great Offices of State. The current prime minister, Theresa May, leader of the Conservative Party, was appointed by the Queen on 13 July 2016. The position of Prime Minister was not created, it evolved slowly and erratically over three hundred years due to acts of Parliament, political developments, and accidents of history. The office is therefore best understood from a historical perspective, the origins of the position are found in constitutional changes that occurred during the Revolutionary Settlement and the resulting shift of political power from the Sovereign to Parliament. The political position of Prime Minister was enhanced by the development of political parties, the introduction of mass communication. By the start of the 20th century the modern premiership had emerged, prior to 1902, the prime minister sometimes came from the House of Lords, provided that his government could form a majority in the Commons. However as the power of the aristocracy waned during the 19th century the convention developed that the Prime Minister should always sit in the lower house. As leader of the House of Commons, the Prime Ministers authority was further enhanced by the Parliament Act of 1911 which marginalised the influence of the House of Lords in the law-making process. The Prime Minister is ex officio also First Lord of the Treasury, certain privileges, such as residency of 10 Downing Street, are accorded to Prime Ministers by virtue of their position as First Lord of the Treasury. As the Head of Her Majestys Government the modern Prime Minister leads the Cabinet, in addition the Prime Minister leads a major political party and generally commands a majority in the House of Commons. As such the incumbent wields both legislative and executive powers, under the British system there is a unity of powers rather than separation. In the House of Commons, the Prime Minister guides the process with the goal of enacting the legislative agenda of their political party. The Prime Minister also acts as the face and voice of Her Majestys Government. The British system of government is based on an uncodified constitution, in 1928, Prime Minister H. H. Asquith described this characteristic of the British constitution in his memoirs, In this country we live. Our constitutional practices do not derive their validity and sanction from any Bill which has received the assent of the King, Lords. They rest on usage, custom, convention, often of slow growth in their early stages, not always uniform, the relationships between the Prime Minister and the Sovereign, Parliament and Cabinet are defined largely by these unwritten conventions of the constitution. Many of the Prime Ministers executive and legislative powers are actually royal prerogatives which are still vested in the Sovereign

5.
Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool
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Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, KG, PC, FRS was an English politician and both the youngest and longest-serving Prime Minister since 1806. As Prime Minister, Liverpool called for repressive measures at domestic level to maintain order after the riots of 1819 and he dealt smoothly with the Prince Regent when King George III was incapacitated. He also steered the country through the period of radicalism and unrest that followed the Napoleonic Wars and he favoured commercial and manufacturing interests as well as the landed interest. He sought a compromise of the issue of Catholic emancipation. The revival of the economy strengthened his political position, by the 1820s he was the leader of a reform faction of Liberal Tories who lowered the tariff, abolished the death penalty for many offences, and reformed the criminal law. By the time of his death in office, however, the Tory Party was ripping itself apart. Jenkinson was baptised on 29 June 1770 at St. Margarets, Westminster, the son of George IIIs close adviser Charles Jenkinson, later the first Earl of Liverpool, and his first wife, Amelia Watts. Jenkinsons 19-year-old mother, who was the daughter of a senior East India Company official William Watts, Jenkinson was educated at Charterhouse School and Christ Church, Oxford. In the summer of 1789, Jenkinson spent four months in Paris to perfect his French and he returned to Oxford for three months to complete his terms of residence and in May 1790 was created master of arts. This tour took in the Netherlands and Italy, whereby he was old enough to take his seat in Parliament. It is not clear exactly when he entered the Commons, but as his twenty-first birthday was not reached until almost the end of the 1791 session, with the help of his fathers influence and his political talent, he rose relatively fast in the Tory government. In February 1792, he gave the reply to Samuel Whitbreads critical motion on the governments Russian policy and he delivered several other speeches during the session, including one against the abolition of the slave trade, which reflected his fathers strong opposition to William Wilberforces campaign. He served as a member of the Board of Control for India from 1793 to 1796, in the defence movement that followed the outbreak of hostilities with France, Jenkinson, was one of the first of the ministers of the government to enlist in the militia. In 1794 he became a Colonel in the Cinque Ports Fencibles, in 1796 his regiment was sent to Scotland and he was quartered for a time in Dumfries. It was reported that His lordship was blamed for remaining at Haddington and he was appointed a Colonel of militia in 1810. His parliamentary attendance also suffered from his reaction when his father opposed his projected marriage with Lady Louisa Hervey. After Pitt and the King had intervened on his behalf, the wedding took place at Wimbledon on 25 March 1795. In May 1796, when his father was created Earl of Liverpool, he took the title of Lord Hawkesbury

6.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
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It alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. Its head is the Sovereign of the United Kingdom and its seat is the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster, one of the boroughs of the British capital, the parliament is bicameral, consisting of an upper house and a lower house. The Sovereign forms the third component of the legislature, prior to the opening of the Supreme Court in October 2009, the House of Lords also performed a judicial role through the Law Lords. The House of Commons is an elected chamber with elections held at least every five years. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster in London, most cabinet ministers are from the Commons, whilst junior ministers can be from either House. The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Treaty of Union by Acts of Union passed by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The UK parliament and its institutions have set the pattern for many throughout the world. However, John Bright – who coined the epithet – used it with reference to a rather than a parliament. In theory, the UKs supreme legislative power is vested in the Crown-in-Parliament. However, the Crown normally acts on the advice of the Prime Minister, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1801, by the merger of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland under the Acts of Union. The principle of responsibility to the lower House did not develop until the 19th century—the House of Lords was superior to the House of Commons both in theory and in practice. Members of the House of Commons were elected in an electoral system. Thus, the borough of Old Sarum, with seven voters, many small constituencies, known as pocket or rotten boroughs, were controlled by members of the House of Lords, who could ensure the election of their relatives or supporters. During the reforms of the 19th century, beginning with the Reform Act 1832, No longer dependent on the Lords for their seats, MPs grew more assertive. The supremacy of the British House of Commons was established in the early 20th century, in 1909, the Commons passed the so-called Peoples Budget, which made numerous changes to the taxation system which were detrimental to wealthy landowners. The House of Lords, which consisted mostly of powerful landowners, on the basis of the Budgets popularity and the Lords consequent unpopularity, the Liberal Party narrowly won two general elections in 1910. Using the result as a mandate, the Liberal Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, introduced the Parliament Bill, in the face of such a threat, the House of Lords narrowly passed the bill. However, regardless of the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, the Government of Ireland Act 1920 created the parliaments of Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland and reduced the representation of both parts at Westminster

7.
East Indiaman
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East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India Companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vessels belonging to the Danish, Dutch, English, French, Portuguese. Some of the East Indiamen chartered by the British East India Company were known as tea clippers, English East Indiamen usually ran between England, the Cape of Good Hope and India, where their primary destinations were the ports of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. The Indiamen often continued on to China before returning to England via the Cape of Good Hope, when the company lost its monopoly, the ships of this design were sold off. A smaller, faster ship known as a Blackwall Frigate was built for the trade as the need to carry heavy armaments declined and these include the Danish, Dutch, English, French, Portuguese and Swedish East India companies. East Indiamen carried both passengers and goods, and were armed to defend themselves against pirates, initially, the East Indiamen were built to carry as much cargo as possible, rather than for speed of sailing. The East India company had a monopoly on trade with India and China, East Indiamen were the largest merchant ships regularly built during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, generally measuring between 1100 and 1400 tons burthen. Two of the largest were the Earl of Mansfield and Lascelles being built at Deptford in 1795, the Royal Navy purchased both, converted them to 56-gun fourth rates, and renamed them Weymouth and Madras respectively. They measured 1426 tons on dimensions of approximately 175 feet overall length of hull,144 feet keel,43 feet beam,17 feet draft, in England, Queen Elizabeth I granted an exclusive right to the trade to one company in 1600. The company grew to more than the trade between England and India, but the ships described in this article are the type used in the 17th to the early 19th centuries to carry the trade. The Royal Navy acquired several East Indiamen, turning them into fourth rates, in some cases the East Indiamen successfully fought off attacks by the French. The ships normally had two decks for accommodation within the hull and a raised poop deck. The poop deck and the deck below it were lit with square-windowed galleries at the stern, to support the weight of the galleries, the hull lines towards the stern were full. Later ships built without this feature tended to sail faster, which put the East Indiamen at a disadvantage once the need for heavy armament passed. These ships were used for the China run, until the coming of steamships, these Indian-built ships were relied upon almost exclusively by the British in the eastern seas. None sailed to Europe and they were banned from English ports, many hundreds of Indian-built Indiamen were built for the British, along with other ships, including warships. Notable among them were Surat Castle, a 1, 000-ton ship with a crew of 150, Lowjee Family, of 800 tons and a crew of 125, and Shampinder, of 1,300 tons. Another significant East Indiaman in this period was the 1176-ton Warley that John Perry built at his Blackwall Yard in 1788, and which the Royal Navy bought in 1795 and renamed HMS Calcutta

8.
Ludwig van Beethoven
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Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he one of the most famous. His best-known compositions include 9 symphonies,5 piano concertos,1 violin concerto,32 piano sonatas,16 string quartets, his great Mass the Missa solemnis, and one opera, Fidelio. At the age of 21 he moved to Vienna, where he began studying composition with Joseph Haydn and he lived in Vienna until his death. By his late 20s his hearing began to deteriorate, and by the last decade of his life he was almost completely deaf. In 1811 he gave up conducting and performing in public but continued to compose, many of his most admired works come from these last 15 years of his life. Beethoven was the grandson of Ludwig van Beethoven, a musician from the town of Mechelen in the Duchy of Brabant in the Flemish region of what is now Belgium, who at the age of twenty moved to Bonn. Ludwig was employed as a singer at the court of the Elector of Cologne, eventually rising to become, in 1761. The portrait he commissioned of himself towards the end of his life remained proudly displayed in his grandsons rooms as a talisman of his musical heritage. Ludwig had one son, Johann, who worked as a tenor in the musical establishment and gave keyboard. Johann married Maria Magdalena Keverich in 1767, she was the daughter of Johann Heinrich Keverich, Beethoven was born of this marriage in Bonn. There is no record of the date of his birth, however. Of the seven children born to Johann van Beethoven, only Ludwig, the second-born, caspar Anton Carl was born on 8 April 1774, and Nikolaus Johann, the youngest, was born on 2 October 1776. Beethovens first music teacher was his father and he later had other local teachers, the court organist Gilles van den Eeden, Tobias Friedrich Pfeiffer, and Franz Rovantini. Beethovens musical talent was obvious at a young age, some time after 1779, Beethoven began his studies with his most important teacher in Bonn, Christian Gottlob Neefe, who was appointed the Courts Organist in that year. Neefe taught Beethoven composition, and by March 1783 had helped him write his first published composition, Beethoven soon began working with Neefe as assistant organist, at first unpaid, and then as a paid employee of the court chapel conducted by the Kapellmeister Andrea Luchesi. His first three piano sonatas, named Kurfürst for their dedication to the Elector Maximilian Friedrich, were published in 1783, Maximilian Frederick noticed Beethovens talent early, and subsidised and encouraged the young mans musical studies. Maximilian Fredericks successor as the Elector of Bonn was Maximilian Francis, the youngest son of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, echoing changes made in Vienna by his brother Joseph, he introduced reforms based on Enlightenment philosophy, with increased support for education and the arts

9.
Royal charter
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A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organisations such as cities or universities, Charters should be distinguished from warrants and letters of appointment, as they have perpetual effect. Typically, a Royal Charter is produced as a high-quality work of calligraphy on vellum, the British monarchy has issued over 980 royal charters. Of these about 750 remain in existence, the earliest was to the town of Tain in 1066, making it the oldest Royal Burgh in Scotland, followed by the University of Cambridge in 1231. Charters continue to be issued by the British Crown, a recent example being that awarded to the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity, Charters have been used in Europe since medieval times to create cities. The date that such a charter is granted is considered to be when a city is founded, at one time, a royal charter was the sole means by which an incorporated body could be formed, but other means are generally used nowadays instead. In the period before 1958,32 higher education institutes had been created by royal charter and these were typically engineering or technical institutions rather than universities. Royal decrees can therefore no longer grant higher education status or university status. A Royal Charter is granted by Order in Council, either creating an incorporated body and this is an exercise of the Royal Prerogative, and, in Canada, there are hundreds of organisations under Royal Charters. Such organisations include charities, businesses, colleges, universities, today, it is mostly charities and professional institutions who receive Royal Charters. Application for a charter is a petition to the Queen-in-Council, however, meeting these benchmarks does not guarantee the issuance of a Royal Charter. Companies, corporations, and societies in Canada founded under or augmented by a Royal Charter include, Royal Charter was issued in August 1826 to purchase and develop lands. Purchased the Crown Reserve of 1,384,413 acres, cities under Royal Charter are not subject to municipal Acts of Parliament applied generally to other municipalities, and instead are governed by legislation applicable to each city individually. The Royal Charter codifies the laws applied to the particular city, the Universitys Pontifical Charter was granted by Pope Leo XIII in 1889. Several Canadian private schools were founded or reconstituted under Royal Charter, the Royal Gibraltar Post Office was granted Royal Charter in 2005. The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club obtained Royal Charter in 1959 and it is one of the three banknote-issuing banks in Hong Kong. The Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch Chartered originally in 1847, disbanded 1859, the Institution of Engineers was incorporated by royal charter in 1935. A number of Irish institutions retain the Royal prefix, even though Republic of Ireland severed all remaining connections between the state and the British monarch in 1949, the University of South Africa received a Royal Charter in 1877

10.
London Bridge
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London Bridge refers to several historical bridges that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and this replaced a 19th-century stone-arched bridge, which in turn superseded a 600-year-old medieval structure. This was preceded by a succession of bridges, the first built by the Roman founders of London. The current bridge stands at the end of the Pool of London but is positioned 30 metres upstream from previous alignments. The traditional ends of the bridge were marked by St Magnus-the-Martyr on the northern bank. Until Putney Bridge opened in 1729, London Bridge was the only road-crossing of the Thames downstream of Kingston-upon-Thames and its importance has been the subject of popular culture throughout the ages such as in the nursery rhyme London Bridge Is Falling Down and its inclusion within art and literature. The modern bridge is owned and maintained by Bridge House Estates and it carries the A3 road, which is maintained by the Greater London Authority. The crossing also delineates an area along the bank of the River Thames. The abutments of modern London Bridge rest several metres above natural embankments of gravel, sand, between the embankments, the River Thames could have been crossed by ford when the tide was low, or ferry when it was high. There is archaeological evidence for scattered Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement nearby, two ancient fords were in use a few miles upstream, beyond the rivers upper tidal reach. They were aligned with the course of Watling Street and led into the heartlands of the Catuvellauni, some time before Claudius conquest of AD43, power shifted to the Trinovantes, who held the region northeast of the Thames estuary from a capital at Camulodunum. Claudius imposed a major colonia on Camulodunum, and made it the city of the new Roman province of Britannia. The first London Bridge was built by the Roman military as part of their road-building programme, around AD55, the temporary bridge over the Thames was replaced by a permanent timber piled bridge, maintained and guarded by a small garrison. On the relatively high, dry ground at the end of the bridge, a small, opportunistic trading and shipping settlement took root. A smaller settlement developed at the end of the bridge. The bridge was destroyed along with the town in the Boudican revolt. Just downstream of the bridge were substantial quays and depots, convenient to seagoing trade between Britain and the rest of the Roman Empire, with the end of Roman rule in Britain in the early 5th century, Londinium was gradually abandoned and the bridge fell into disrepair. In the Saxon period, the became a boundary between the emergent, mutually hostile kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex

11.
John Rennie the Elder
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John Rennie FRSE FRS was a Scottish civil engineer who designed many bridges, canals, and docks. His older brother George remained to assist in the agricultural business. He seems to have employed his vacations in working as a millwright, at this early date the originality of his mind was exhibited by the introduction of cast iron pinions instead of wooden trundles. In 1784 he took a journey south for the purpose of enlarging his knowledge, visiting James Watt at Soho, the machinery was all designed by Rennie, a distinguishing feature being the use of iron instead of wood for the shafting and framing. About 1791 he started in business as an engineer on his own account in Holland Street, Blackfriars, whence he. In 1791, he moved to London and set up his own engineering business, having by then begun to expand into civil engineering, the Kennet and Avon Canal including the Dundas Aqueduct, Caen Hill Locks and Crofton Pumping Station occupied him between 1794 and 1810. In 1802 he revised the plans for the Royal Canal of Ireland from Dublin to the Shannon near Longford, for many years he was engaged in extensive drainage operations in the Lincolnshire and Norfolk fens, and in the improvement of the River Witham. The Eau Brink Cut, a new channel for the River Ouse, was completed just before his death and his later efforts in this line also show that he was a skilful architect, endowed with a keen sense of beauty of design. Waterloo Bridge was considered his masterpiece and was the most prestigious bridge project in England, the Italian sculptor Canova called it ‘the noblest bridge in the world’ and said that ‘it is worth going to England solely to see Rennie’s bridge. Southwark Bridge was built as three cast-iron spans over the river and he also designed the Old Vauxhall Bridge. He devoted much time to the preparation of plans for a government dockyard at Northfleet, Rennies last project was London Bridge, still under construction when he died in 1821 but completed by his son, also John Rennie. Dunleary harbour of Asylum was a difficult and important project. Rennie was responsible for the construction of Howth Harbour on the North side of Dublin bay a decade earlier and this was originally planned as the landing for the Holyhead packets, but it silted up to such an extent that it became unfit for purpose. An Act of Parliament of 1816 authorised the building of Dunleary harbour and he was correct as the sand has built up behind the west pier. The harbour once built was renamed The Royal Harbour of Kingstown in 1821 on the occasion of the visit of George IV, the material for the harbour is Dalkey Hill granite. The granite was provided by Richard Toucher at no cost to the construction team, the foundations of the piers are 300-0 wide and 24-0 below low water level. Many options were considered for the width of the space between the two pier heads, Rennie wrote to the Harbour Commissioners that the opening should be 430-0 wide with the pier heads turned into the harbour to control swells within the harbour. His demands were never met and the opening was built at 1

12.
Gregor MacGregor
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MacGregors Poyais scheme has been called one of the most brazen confidence tricks in history. From the Clan Gregor, MacGregor was an officer in the British Army from 1803 to 1810 and his successes included a difficult month-long fighting retreat through northern Venezuela in 1816. He captured Amelia Island in 1817 under a mandate from revolutionary agents to conquer Florida from the Spanish and he then oversaw two calamitous operations in New Granada during 1819 that each ended with his abandoning British volunteer troops under his command. A French court tried MacGregor and three others for fraud in 1826 after he attempted a variation on the scheme there, acquitted, MacGregor attempted lesser Poyais schemes in London over the next decade. In 1838, he moved to Venezuela, where he was welcomed back as a hero and he died in Caracas in 1845, aged 58, and was buried with full military honours in Caracas Cathedral. The family was Roman Catholic and part of the Clan Gregor, whose proscription by King James VI, MacGregor would assert in adulthood that a direct ancestor of his had survived the Darien scheme of 1698, the ill-fated Scottish attempt to colonise the Isthmus of Panama. Little is recorded of MacGregors childhood, after his fathers death in 1794, he and his two sisters were raised primarily by his mother with the help of various relatives. MacGregor joined the British Army at 16, the youngest age it was possible for him to do so and his family purchased him a commission as an ensign in the 57th Regiment of Foot, probably for around £450. MacGregors entrance to the military coincided with the start of the Napoleonic Wars following the breakdown of the Treaty of Amiens, southern England was fortified to defend against a possible French invasion, the 57th Foot was at Ashford, Kent. In February 1804, after less than a year in training, later that year, after MacGregor had spent some months in Guernsey with the regiments 1st Battalion, the 57th Foot was posted to Gibraltar. MacGregor was introduced to Maria Bowater, the daughter of a Royal Navy admiral, Maria commanded a substantial dowry and, apart from her by-now-deceased father, was related to two generals, a member of parliament and the botanist Aylmer Bourke Lambert. Gregor and Maria married at St Margarets Church, Westminster in June 1805 and set up home in London, at the residence of the brides aunt. Two months later, having rejoined the 57th Foot in Gibraltar, MacGregor bought the rank of captain for about £900, the 57th Foot remained in Gibraltar between 1805 and 1809. MacGregors regiment disembarked at Lisbon about three months into the campaign, on 15 July, by September it was garrisoning Elvas, near the frontier with Spain. Soon thereafter MacGregor was seconded to the 8th Line Battalion of the Portuguese Army, MacGregor formally retired from the British service on 24 May 1810, receiving back the £1,350 he had paid for the ranks of ensign and captain, and returned to Britain. The 57th Foots actions at the Battle of Albuera on 16 May 1811 would earn it considerable prestige, on his return to Britain the 23-year-old MacGregor and his wife moved into a house rented by his mother in Edinburgh. There he assumed the title of Colonel, wore the badge of a Portuguese knightly order and toured the city in an extravagant, after failing to attain high social status in Edinburgh, MacGregor moved back to London in 1811 and began styling himself Sir Gregor MacGregor, Bart. Falsely claiming to have succeeded to the MacGregor clan chieftainship, he alluded to family ties with a selection of dukes, earls

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime …

Late in the 17th century Treasury Ministers began to attend the Commons regularly. They were given a reserved place, called the Treasury Bench, to the Speaker's right where the Prime Minister and senior Cabinet members sit today.

The House of Commons early 19th century. The Loyal Opposition occupy the benches to the Speaker's left. Seated in the front, the leaders of the opposition form a "Shadow Government", complete with a salaried "Shadow Prime Minister" ready to assume office if the government falls or loses the next election.

Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central …

London Bridge in 2006

An engraving by Claes Visscher showing Old London Bridge in 1616, with what is now Southwark Cathedral in the foreground. The spiked heads of executed criminals can be seen above the Southwark gatehouse.